SEATTLE -- You just might run into someone wearing a T-shirt that says "I was raped."

The phrase is printed across a new shirt sold online from a Seattle-based organization founded by a local rape survivor.

Heather Corrina's Web site Scarleteen.com offers teens "sex ed for the real world." The site offers detailed information on a wide array of topics having to do with sexuality in an attempt to educate teens and young adults and to encourage open, ongoing conversation.

The t-shirt campaign is a part of the "I was raped" project which also includes a documentary. The project, for which Corrina teamed up with feminist writer Jennifer Baumgardner, aims to highlight the prevalence of rape and to help victims break their silence.

Corrina says when she was raped years ago, she didn't even understand exactly what had happened.

"And to even have had that language to know what to call it or to know it had happened to somebody else would have made a tremendous difference for me in terms of not feeling like it was something I should be ashamed of," she said.

She hopes the site and the T-shirt will let other rape victims know they are not alone.

"I suspect that there might be a day I wear that T-shirt on the bus where a woman next to me, who I have never met before, says 'I was, too,'" she wrote in a statement on her Web site.

But Lucy Berliner, director of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault, isn't so sure that's all that will happen.

"You have to think about the consequences and it's not likely to happen that you've got everyone who's been raped wearing a t-shirt saying 'I've been raped,'" she said.

Berliner hesitated to say victims should wear their pain on their sleeve. The T-shirt, she said, fills her head with questions.

"What is this person looking for? Are they trying to get a reaction? Are they trying to see what I think?" she said.

When asked why she chose such a strong message, Corrina said it's more for the benefit of the person wearing the shirt rather than for those who see it.

"Because we think there are a lot of women who need it," she said. "It's certainly not for everybody. Everybody's feelings processes a little bit different."

Corrina admits that such a heavy message carries the possibility of backfiring.

"Oh, I think absolutely. You could wear this and be met with scorn and embarrassment."

That's what Berliner fears. Experts say rape victims may think they're ready to make a bold statement until they don't get the reaction they were hoping for.

Even if a rape victim wears the shirt for her own personal benefit, she will inevitably have to face the reactions to its strong message. Experts say the wrong reaction can scar the victim in devastating ways for years and years.

"So while I agree with the idea behind it, I would worry about whether someone was ready to take what came with it," she said. "It's definitely going to open up conversation."

The first one that comes to my mind, is that while the person who has been assaulted shouldn’t be ashamed for something that was not her fault, to put this on a t-shirt seems to be displaying pride in it.

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Jennifer Baumgardner Designs I Was Raped T-Shirt TransWorldNews (press release), GA - 10 minutes ago Jennifer Baumgardner is responsible for designing the controversial T-shirt that reads I Had An Abortion and now she is responsible for another T-Shirt ...

"I was raped" t-shirt causing controversy Tampa Bay's 10, FL - 18 hours ago Seattle, Washington - A t-shirt that is for sale online is causing some serious controversy. The shirt reads, "I was raped". The creator says it is a way to ...

Folks wear shirts indicating: attendance at or graduation from a university, their affection for a particular professional sports team, current or prior military service, current or prior employment with a particular company, participation in some sport, the fact of having visited or lived in some area or attraction ...

All of these, they wear because they take pride in the affiliation.

So ...

7
posted on 04/07/2008 2:47:12 PM PDT
by ArrogantBustard
(Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)

When I was living in Ann Arbor during the early 1980’s some women’s group got it in their heads to spray-paint “A Woman Was Raped Here” on the ground in various locations, in order to heighten awareness of the crime. While in the beginning they may have tried to be accurate, after they realized that the message wasn’t getting out (women are not usually raped in well-travelled areas), they started spray-painting it everywhere. It became a joke.

Remember when people overcame hardships and adversity and got on with their lives? Now it becomes their identity. It makes you wonder what their lives were like before they encountered the tragic event that defines them.

11
posted on 04/07/2008 2:50:32 PM PDT
by Spok
(Ignorance is no excuse-it's the real thing.)

I dunno.....it would seem to me if there was a feeling that I had to convey and get across to others, this would be the one that I would HAVE to have a very strong feeling about. If you can imagine this from a male’s point of view, to advertise the corresponding crime (I was ‘buggered’ up the a$$ in jail, lockup, etc.) it would really take some damn guts and determination - there’s embarassment, shame, privacy and justice, all balled up into one pile. I don’t see it as sick; I see it as a desperate need to convey the sense of pure violation experience and a need to stop it.

Good point! After reading post #3, it seems like the creator is a useful idiot. She wants to be a perpetual victim. Constantly looking for sympathy. Something else, she seems to think that rape is about sex. It’s not, it is a form of violence.

34
posted on 04/07/2008 3:37:59 PM PDT
by Clock King
(Bring the noise!)

I have to more or less agree with you... maybe this is just the best way for some people to deal with it. I think that any woman who would wear a t-shirt like that is really really brave, and probably doing a heck of a lot to raise awareness of the issue.

I see it as a desperate need to convey the sense of pure violation experience and a need to stop it.

But what is the reader supposed to DO about it? Just say "ah, gee, that's too bad"...? It seems a bit artificial as some kind of proud announcement of survival. Sure, surviving a rape and not subsequently losing control of one's whole life may be something that indicates a strength of character. But to then need to announce it to everyone you meet... well... it'll certainly be awkward.

Seems like it is merely a way to force other people you don't know to be uneasy in your presence. It sets the agenda for what you want them to think about. Forces it. It's an aggressive and pushy, almost arrogant attitude.

If something like that ever happened to me, whether or not I ever become at ease enough to discuss it with people, I'm pretty sure it's not the first thing I would want people to know about me.

42
posted on 04/07/2008 4:33:16 PM PDT
by Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)

I do not like the T-shirt either. I think that a woman who wants support can find it in other ways. HOWEVER, I was taken aback by your very angry attitude towards rape victims. Why? I was raped. It was more than 20 years ago, and I knew my attacker. We had been out that evening. He KNEW I was not interested in sex with him — he was simply a friend of my roomates boyfriend— and one other time he tried to force himself on me and I was able to stop him. That time he apologized and blamed drinking. The second time a few weeks later I could not stop him. He was determined and stronger than I was. Should I feel ashamed? No! Did I? YES!!! I never told anyone for many years. Then I tried to tell my first husband after he playfully held me down on the bed to kiss me and I freaked out. That husband told me “get over it...I would not hurt you”. No support there! I do not have a great solution to the situation I admit. I still know that woman need to feel safe and secure when/if they report it and printing their names in newspapers will not make that happen. Woman are still treated as if they “caused” the rape and that is wrong. Publishing names would be even worse. Personally I think we should try punishing the women who LIE instead and printing those names. It might stop the abuse of false reporting.

2. I am sorry for the ordeal you went through. As a man I will never know the intensity a woman feels after a rape. Men can be raped also, but I'm told women deal with it harder.

3. My angry attitude???? Sorry, I'm not angry. I don't have an axe to grind. I have no experience in any of the nasty aspects of rape. But I do know that false accusations of rape account for about 1 out of 3 reported cases.

And drugs and/or alcohol are usually involved. As they were in your case. Bad decision lead to rape.

4. Why is rape the only crime where the accuser get anonymity? Studies show that women are empowered only if they come forward. They are able to deal with the guilt and shame.

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